Crazier than the Isle of Man TT: Irish Road Racing

Imagine the Isle of Man TT but with everyone starting together.   Can't?  Have a look a these videos.

Guy Martin Southern 100 by Alan McKibbin/Flickr

The Isle of Man TT is generally regarded as the peak of motorsport insanity,  riders hurling themselves at 200 mph between trees and stone walls.  But for as crazy as that is, it still essentially a time trial.

Irish National Road Racing is  wheel to wheel combat on narrow country roads, often lined with sidewalks or barbed wire.   It is beyond insane and perpetually on the cusp of being banned.   An almost unknown sport outside of its relatively small fan base, amateur racers with  a complete disdain for runoff area and safety barriers have gathered for years in places like Skerries, Tandragee, Killalane, to race on narrow roads and over big jumps.

"Road racing's dangerous, yeah but it shouldn't be stopped" said Carl Fogarty" if you don't want to do it, don't do it"

Guy Martin  has no time for race tracks "It's all tire walls and safety barriers, I'm not interested,  I like a bit of danger"

Now that's understatement.

Amazing what you can do with a Motorcycle

Since we are in Dakar season and thinking of my friends CG and Andres, bombing around Colombia in their adventure bikes... Beautiful clip via YAN ZAHAROV on Vimeo.

Dakar, the hard way

Dakar is certainly about multi million dollar corporate showcases but perhaps the true spirit of the raids of old are with privateers like rider Lyndon Poskitt.

I posted a picture of Lyndon in the previous Dakar article, quite by chance... we like KTMs and orange here at Axis,  I did not know his story until I  received an email from Jack McCormack alerting me to Poskitt's quest.   For the 2013 Dakar, Poskitt is riding a blue KTM 450RR.

So as you follow the race for the next two weeks, why not keep an eye out for Lyndon's updates on his BLOG  or twitter  or FB and maybe see the Dakar from a point of view different from that of the big wigs up front.



Axis riders might like a peak at how a bike might be prepared for the Dakar.  

Requires more than two balls...

There is a line in Stephen Mitchell's documentary about the Carrera Panamericana :

"Those races had a Hemingway-esque quality that not only defied danger but almost seemed to welcome it"

I think Hemingway would have liked the TT.

The 2012 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy runs from May 26 through June 8.

Machine

Love it, makes me want to grow a beard and move to Australia.
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7 minutes 26 seconds BTG on a bike...

Organ doner or awesome that's your opinion, but Dale at BTG figures this may be the fastest bike lap ever on video...

Whatever the case, I found that at the 'Ring, the mix of bikers and cars during terroristenfahrt was the most unsettling item to contend with..

Dirtbag!

So what's with the burnout from hell?

I know little more about it than you will after watching the promo for a documentary on this Anti-OCC/American Chopper event in San Francisco.
I do confess to accasionally sharing some of the same "chip on shoulder" attitude at some fancy track dates with my M-Shoe though. :Sue me :)

Check it out after the jump.




(via Rocket Garage)

Gear: Durban Gore Tex

Check out this clip. I know it's an ad but tell me you don't feel like running out, buying a big BMW, KTM or in this case, a Yamaha Super Tenerè ( how's that for a cool name?) and hitting the trail for a week... Amazing piece of kit.


(Alpinestars)
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Adventured Development

You may have noticed from our track videos a bunch of us use Alpinestars gear and Axis Styles has been using the stuff for motorcross since before you probably knew it even existed.

What with the recent post about CG's latest adventure toy and the fact that from time to time we like to promote products we actually use, I thought you might enjoy this clip about the design process for the Alpinestars Tech Touring line of adventure riding gear.


Alpinestars Tech Touring
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Not just 4 wheels

Axis CG just took delivery of a KTM Adventure 990, Axis Justin used to race motocross, Tracktards are of course not just about four wheels. So let's follow Justin Bell on a road trip and get one car guy's prospective on BMW's latest and greatest bike, the S1000RR.


(Justin Bell.com)
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